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THE EMPEROR OF ICED TEA & BIBINGKA 12 We politicize economic issues & give an economic perspective to political issues MARCH 17-23, 2014 • VOL.4 NO.29

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By Miguel Raymundo The reason our power cost is the highest in the world can be traced to corruption in the highest order.

If Osmeña is indeed our champion against abuses and corruption in the energy sector, why is the cost of electricity in this country almost the highest in the world? Page 2

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THE CONTINUING ATTACK ON THE LEFT 3 3/14/14 9:42 PM

COVER STORY

BOGUS CHAMPION

By Miguel Raymundo

SENATOR Sergio Osmeña III is on his 15th year as senator of this country. He made it to the Senate by making a big splash of his escape from the cruelty of the Marcos dictatorial years to gain public trust and win a Senate seat in 1995. He sold himself to the electorate as public protector against the abuses of government and big business.

In the Senate he has held the chairmanship of the Energy Committee for the longest time. This is his preferred committee. And nobody has dared to ask him why he has this predilection toward this Senate body.

In his 15 years in the Upper Chamber of Congress, he has succeeded to project the image of a champion of electricity consumers’ interests. And until now, many believe that Sen. Osmeña is the consumers’ champion in the Senate against abuses by energy generators and distributors in this country.

Lies and Trickery

This week, however, we saw that all of this was a big lie. This is one lie and trick of magic that has survived for too long because our Senate and country is enamored with political issues rather than economic interests.

Masking the lie has worked not because of a miracle from heaven, but by the miracle of money that controls mass media. But numbers belie this public image of this senator from Cebu, that image of consumers’ champion carved by a media mostly controlled by owners of power generators and distributors.

Those in the energy business own and control the ABS-CBN and TV5 television networks. Their presence in the print media is also the envy of other industries: Manny V. Pangilinan who gives face to the abuses in this sector has control over Philippine Star, Business World, etc., and hold a sizable of ownership of Philippine Daily Inquirer.

These energy players also got ahead of others in the social media, owning Rappler and InterAksyon aside from funding other supposedly independent groups.

That Senator Osmeña is a bogus consumers’ champion is better understood by this question: If Osmeña is indeed our champion against abuses and corruption in the energy sector, why is the cost of electricity in this country almost the highest in the world?

Corruption

The reason our power cost is the highest in the world can be traced to corruption in the highest order. The high cost of electricity is sum total of several costs in bringing power to our homes. These several costs include recovery of investment, capital expenditures, and cost of power bought from generation companies.

Collecting from customers is the job of the distribution company. Here in the Philippines, it is Meralco that controls over seventy percent of power distributed in the country.

Since distribution companies, in this case, the Manila Electric Company (Meralco), cannot fix their rates without passing through the scrutiny of government regulators like the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC)—electricity being a regulated commodity—it goes without saying that electricity rates were sanctioned or allowed by this regulator.

But the mandate of the ERC was set by law; and the law is passed by our legislators. In this instance, the law on energy called the Electricity Power Reform Act (EPIRA) was initiated by Congressional committee, specifically the Committees on Energy of both the Lower and Upper Chambers.

EPIRA was intended to rationalize this sector with the intent of providing the best price of power favorable to the consumers. In time, and mostly, lately, EPIRA has been seen as a mechanism to enrich the investors in this sector to the destruction of the national economy.

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Osmeña’s Playground

The passing of the EPIRA in the Senate was marshaled by the energy committee, Osmeña’s favorite playground. So Osmeña pushed a law that was secretly intended to make the poor Filipino poorer and the Lopezes, Aboitizes and the others who own the money that MVP is using much, much richer.

So to claim to champion the interest of the poor Filipino in the Senate is the biggest lie in the case of Osmeña.

Why has he not investigated the biggest rob of the century?

The robbery was done by a handful of families who are billionaires and the victims are the tens of millions who use electricity to light homes.

We bring to the attention of Sen. Osmeña a final report on the valuation of Meralco assets in 2006 by the PB Associates and the Asian Appraisal Company Inc. both retained by the ERC to conduct and prepare an appraisal of the fixed assets of Meralco.

This report contained many glaring overvaluations of these assets.

Comparing the depreciated historical cost (cost at acquisition) and the optimized depreciated replacement cost in this report, it shows that for land and land rights alone, the depreciated historical cost was listed as PhP623,380,096 while the replacement cost was PhP6,593,098,996— reflecting a difference of almost PhP6 billion.

In the same report, depreciated historical cost of for power transformers of PhP58.09 million went up to P5.3 billion, an overvaluation of PhP5.2 billion.

These are two of the list of accounts revaluated after EPIRA. If the other accounts are considered, the total overvaluation amounts to a whopping PhP47 billion, which according to law is recoverable through electricity rates to be paid by the consumers.

These PhP47 -billion overvaluation is just the base figure, because interest is added to recovery costs over time.

Overpricing

Senator Osmeña should know these figures. If not, he should refer to ERC’s copy of the final report on Manila Electric Company valuation dated 30 June 2006 entitled “Asset Valuation for Privately Owned Distribution Utilities Subject to Performance Based Regulation” conducted by Parsons Brinckerhorff Associates and Asian Appraisal Company Inc. But experts explain that revaluation of eligible assets must not be allowed to be part of the rate base because market value is not the actual costs incurred in providing capital investment utilized in the provision of the public service of transporting and distributing electricity.

This is contrary to EPIRA which provides for reflecting the true cost of doing a service. This will lighten up regulatory pressure and will allow Electric Cooperatives and Distribution Utilities to achieve the economies of scale, improve its efficiencies and reliability of service, and reduce costs.

Hundreds of billions of pesos had already been stolen from the consumers by overpricing of equipment and cost of power generation and distribution from the time of the Lopezes. Going back to the report of PB Associates and Asian Appraisal Company Inc. the cost of power transformers jumped from PhP58,096,582 in depreciated historical cost to PhP5,309,652,432 in optimized depreciated replacement cost or a percentage increase of more than 9000%. This again is charged to the consumers.

The Osmeña Surge AS far as Senate Energy Committee chairman Serge Osmeña is concerned, there is no single person or government department to blame for the market failure that led to a world record power hike last December.

Instead, Osmeña says President Aquino, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) are all at fault.

The senator blames everybody for the power mess—well except for Meralco, of course.

Why? Because Senator Serge is married to one Isabel Victoria “Bettina” Lopez, granddaughter of the late former Philippine Vice President Fernando Lopez and niece of Eugenio Lopez Sr.—whose family owns Meralco.

Osmeña, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Banking and Finance, criticizes President Aquino for placing political appointees instead of energy experts at the DOE and ERC while he sits as chair of Senate Energy Committee, perhaps as “utang na loob” for being PNoy’s campaign manager back in 2010.

But since this administration is already a long ways from its glory days of 2010 and Senator Serge needs to defend family fortune from public ire, he points a finger at everybody else. Suddenly, he is the independent voice in the Senate.

Well, at least Senator Serge is consistent. Osmeña has always been less vocal when issues involve the Manny V. Pangilinan-Lopez line of businesses which includes MERALCO, Maynilad Wawter Services, SkyCable, Manila North Tollways, and network giant ABS-CBN. The Osmeñas are also known as “balimbing”—turncoats in local political jargon.

Senator Serge’s grandfather, Sergio Osmeña belonged to the Nacionalista Party while his father Sergio Osmeña Jr. was once a member of the Nacionalista Party, but jumped to the Liberal Party when he challenged Ferdinand Marcos in the 1969 presidential election.

Senator Serge, meanwhile, was initially part of Lakas-NUCD-UMDP in the early 1990s before he transferred to the Liberal Party. He became senator for the first time in 1995. He then joined the People Power Coalition in early 2001 and transferred to PDP-Laban later that same year. He is now serving the first of a new two-term cycle after placing 10th in the 2010 Senate race again as a member of the ruling LP. As son of Marcos’ political rival, Senator Serge was imprisoned in 1972. In November 1974, he—along with fellow detainee Eugenio “Genny” Lopez Jr. of ABS-CBN—went on a hunger strike to protest the unjust detention of thousands of innocent Filipino.

Defiant to the very end, Osmeña and Lopez escaped from their maximum security prison cell in Fort Bonifacio in 1977. Their exploits became the subject of the 1995 movie, Eskapo, a production of ABS-CBN’s Star Cinema. The movie won an Urian award for Best Sound.

Now, Senator Serge could be up for the same award by sounding off a barrage of tirades against PNoy, Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla and the ERC over the power mess that is the scourge of Filipino consumers serviced by Meralco and the rest of the MVP-Lopez owned utilities.

With the administration and PNoy’s approval rating dropping like a brick, Senator Serge has found an opportunity to hit on his political allies by riding on

The theft has worsened when the foreign owners took control of Meralco.

Didn’t Sen. Osmeña notice this?

In spite of continued investigation-inaid of legislation conducted in the Senate by the Committee on Energy which Osmeña chairs, no law has been passed to rectify the flaws in the EPIRA even if these flaws are very bad to consumers.

Osmeña and the industry players have gotten away with lies and corruption.

Owners of power plants and distributors never had it so good until lately that more and more are angrier and angrier over the cost of electricity.

It used to be that people did not understand why in a poor country, electricity cost is too high. It used to be that people were not asking because the issues were too complicated and too many fine prints.

Changing Times

Times are changing the apathy of the people. The clamor to renationalize the power sector is rising enough to create fear on the energy ERC that recently ordered a stop to the PhP4.50 increase in cost of electricity in the period of Malampaya maintenance.

But Osmeña continues to believe his own lies and fantasize his lies are still working. He goes ballistic over the ERC decision to stop Meralco’s new rate and accuse PNoy of mismanagement while warning of economic meltdown from lack of investors.

We wish to remind Sen. Osmeña that investors skip the country not because PNoy is not a good manager but because cost of electricity is too high for them to make good margins.

His tantrum last week shows who he is really protecting. But surely it is not the consumers of power in this country. To accuse him a bogus consumers’ champion is still understatement especially when these energy players have stolen billions of pesos from consumers.

public perception. He surges with his pitch that Meralco is also a victim in this series of unfortunate events that caused electricity rates to spike.

Speaking to reporters, Senator Serge Osmeña said that while Petilla is “very intelligent and well trained,” the DOE secretary, he said, is being distracted by “politics” and has failed to come up with a long-term plan to deal with the power shortage. For all this, he wants Petilla fired. Osmeña also said that the ERC is “poorly managed” and called on the Palace to fill a vacancy in the commission with an expert on energy, computers, or economics.

As for PNoy, he says the President is an honest man, but poor manager, because he does not listen and is “matigas ang ulo” (hard headed). “I do not call him just to give a suggestion. If he calls me, fine.

Kasi alam ko naman ang attitude nila sa Malacañang e, ‘Kuning kuning kuning, kayo ang boss ko,’ pero hindi ganoon e.”

But Senator Serge would be foolish to think that the entire nation would be stupid enough to take the bait—hook, line and sinker. To call Meralco a “victim” is a difficult pill to swallow.

Meralco blames the shutdown of the Malampaya gas facility as the event which forced it to buy power from the independent power producers at higher costs.

But the independent power producers are owned and operated by the rich clans like the Aboitiz family who are also known business associates of the MVP-Lopez group.

So rant as he may, we cannot accept the words of a lawmaker who sits idly most of the year until the family interest is under threat.

It’s just a pitch, after all.

WE TAKE A STAND

3/14/14 9:42 PM

Politics

News from Where You Stand

PHOTO SOURCE: http://gustokomagrev.wordpress.com

ON CHARTER CHANGE PROPOSAL

Labor to Belmonte: ‘What’s in it for us?’

RESPONDING to pronouncements made by congressmen led by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte that their ultimate objective in changing the charter is to attract foreign investments by relaxing the limits on foreign ownership of land and businesses, militant workers staged a demonstration at the Batasan Pambansa to relay their sector’s concerns.

“The workers are agonizing that our country’s officials are unashamed in their aggressive lobbying for the interests of foreign companies, but what about us? What about our rights, if they plan to amend the Charter, they might as well enhance the labor protection and welfare provisions. Our livelihood and our children’s future are at stake here too,” said Gie Relova, leader of the militant Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP).

Last week, the House Committee on Constitutional Reform led by Davao Representative Mylene Garcia-Albano approved House Resolution 1 which seeks to add the phrase “unless otherwise amended by law” to articles in the Constitution that specify 40% limits to foreign ownership of land and businesses, including management of media, franchises to public utilities, and ownership of educational institutions.

The resolution also seeks to augment participation of foreign corporations in developing, exploring, and utilizing lands of public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna, and other natural resources.

“We have no qualms with reforming the Charter for the 1987 Constitution is fundamentally flawed. The present charter gives equal premium to the “right to property” of the minority capitalists and the majority workers’ “right to live decently”. However, their shameless pursuit of their right to private property leads to amassing incredible wealth which is also the primary hindrance for the millions of workers to live decently. The exacerbation of social inequalities is attributed to that flawed principle,” the BMP leader explained.

He was also quick to add that, “We will support Belmonte’s move only if the Speaker and his cohorts will take into account proposals which that will also improve our conditions since undeniably, we are the most productive sector in the economy”.

Among the labor sector’s pressing issues include the erroneous wage fi xing mechanisms in the form of the regional wage boards, the menace of contractualization which cheapen labor and denies workers job security and the increasing number of unemployed.

“If the only vision of these congressmen is simply to liberalize the economy further without strengthening labor protectionist provisions, this will easily translate to more labor rights violations, more miserable working conditions and more depressing wages. Without winking an eye, labor will be the most organized and staunchest opposition to their plans of selling-out our interests and our families’ lifelines,” Relova warned.

The Continuing Attack On The Left

By Richard James Mendoza

These past weeks have witnessed the reactionary brigade attacking the Left through the channels of traditional and social media. Though this has been going on for so long in the undercurrents of the people’s discourse, it suddenly got a revival in social media through a “Thought Leaders” article by a yellow publicist entitled “How the Left has lost”. She narrated in her article how she used to be sympathetic to the leftists starting from her days as a college student when, though not becoming a member, she took the side of the militant youth group Kabataang Makabayan and being “borderline Pink” (what’s that’s supposed to mean?). She also mentions how she campaigned for Bayan Muna sometime ago.

That is, until she saw “how it has become harder to empathize with the Left”, whatever that means. She then began to attack the Left on the basis that they’ve become “indistinguishable from the trapos they despise”, basing on such fl imsy arguments such as how they’ve supposedly benefited from pork barrel while being against it, as well as “[placing]…their beliefs on hold and allowed themselves to be used – in exchange for campaign funds”.

She also rants on how “silent” the Left was on the supposed bullying of China.

First and foremost, the leftists in Congress have barely benefited from their pork barrel because they’ve voiced their opposition against the previous and present regimes. As a matter of fact, their allocated pork wasn’t being released to them.

It’s only recently that they’ve received it, and in small amounts at that. Yet, the publicist was silent on Abad’s pork barrel that exceeds the congressional allotment.

She also confuses ‘utilizing the united front’ as “being used”. Funds aren’t necessarily the problem, since the Left is used to arousing, mobilizing, and organizing even as they lack the funds to do so (just ask some full-time activists). The aim of forging alliances is to mobilize the populace to achieve a certain goal, and that erstwhile goal is to gain a seat in the Senate which was seen as a gargantuan objective to achieve. One does not need to compromise his principles in forging an alliance with a well-known reactionary party.

And perhaps she ought to read the websites of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and Prof. Jose Maria

Sison in order to look for herself how the left criticizes the actions of China in the South China Sea (I refuse to call it the West Philippine Sea, for it only legitimizes the arrogance of the Philippines in its combative stance in the issue just because its riding on the back of the imperialist white tiger like a naive gadfly).

To get over her nonsense-ridden “thought”, she rants that the CPP-NPANDF has “all but left the negotiating table” and, seemingly frustrated, exclaims

It will not die for as long as the people are being oppressed by the ruling class that are lording over the world, exploiting the labor of the people for their own gain. It will not die as long as the people continue to fight for a society that benefits everyone and not just the minority. hastily to “Just exterminate the dwindling force permanently!”, referring to what she calls the “National People’s Army” (sic). Such attitude only rationalizes the violence being done by the PNP and the AFP against legitimate activists in the cities and in the countryside; to quote Randy Malayao, “Hitlerite” is a term apropos for the kind of “thought” she had propagated.

Afterwards, Rappler posted an article which seemed to be a response written by Raymond Palatino, the former representative of Kabataan partylist. Then came an article titled “A Catholic and a leftist”

by Ted Tuvera, the spokesperson of the League of Filipino Students (LFS)-UST chapter. Compliments to these two for giving the social media public another perspective in the mainstream media.

Of course, the yellow’s not the only one attacking the Left. The Armed Forces of the Philippines is ever present in attacking the left since time immemorial, both literally and figuratively. Just as the

campaign for the abolishment of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) had begun to escalate, a series of Letters to the Editor directed against Anakbayan have been published in the Inquirer, redbaiting the group as a “communist front” and also calling it a “nuisance”. One Google search reveals that the names and emails used in the LTTE’s were not real; perhaps this is how the taxpayer’s money is being spent by the ISAFP. In the midst of these bogus letters, a news item surfaced that a member of Anakbayan-Abra chapter, along with his kin, were found dead in a shallow grave.

Members of the 41st Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army led by a certain Lt. Col. Domingo are seen to be the perpetrators of the murder. The said member was supposed to give a testimony to a human rights office on how he was forcibly being used as a “guide” by the Army in their operations against the New People’s Army.

Whether through the likes of PR publicists, misinformed bloggers, or internet sock-puppets (trolls) funded by reactionaries, attacking the Left has always been a favorite pastime of the reactionary State, its puppets and gofers. They’ve found the Left as their eternal scapegoat for its incompetence as well as to cover up their crimes against the populace. “Oh, our Armed Forces is having trouble with the rebels? Let’s blame the Left because they don’t like foreign intervention!” “Human rights violations? Nah, that’s just leftist propaganda! We have no political prisoners here!” “Huh, those urban poor settlers are fighting back against the police and demolition teams? They were probably instigated by those activists again!”

Sarcasm aside, I must commend them for having all the time in the world for attacking a force that has a long history of serving the people. If the Left has truly lost, then why have they been relentless in attacking them? If the Left has truly lost, then why do they keep on saying so? If that is the case, then the Left should have died a long time ago.

But it hasn’t died, and it will not die for as long as the people are being oppressed by the ruling class that are lording over the world, exploiting the labor of the people for their own gain. It will not die as long as the people continue to fight for a society that benefits everyone and not just the minority. Let’s struggle for genuine social change.

WE TAKE A STAND

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MARCH 17-23, 2014

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OPINION

It’s an information war!

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Glad-Handing

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The problem with Senator Sergio Osmeña III is that he is a hypocrite. He is quick to point a finger at Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla, blaming him for supposedly being responsible for the energy shortage, when he doesn’t see that he’s a big part of what’s wrong with a government manipulated by big business interests. His behavior is an example of what’s wrong with this country: placing the blame on someone so that the spotlight does not expose one’s own follies.

Glad-handing means to be excessively friendly with people for the sake of selfish motives. This is where the senator and his ilk are experts at. They engage in sweet talk and false assurances, just to evade responsibility. In fact, that is what so many trapos are so good at. Very few politicians get that much done in the Senate and Congress because most of it is spent talking and arguing over the most finer details of the law, while the country continues to bear its cross to a seemingly never-ending loop of suffering.

Politicians who make themselves appear as ‘good guys’ in the eyes of the public are just doing verbal acrobatics, because it doesn’t result to anything substantial.

He talks of Petilla in a very condescending manner, by saying “He’s a very intelligent, well-trained fellow but his focus is on politics.” Mr. Osmeña does not realize that he is actually talking about himself. A person who points one finger at someone rarely realizes that he’s pointing three fingers at himself, as the classic saying goes.

On the other hand, it is only expected that someone who is influenced by the shadow kings of big business will protect corporate interests. One way to do that is to tell the public that he is not the bad guy, while allowing the real bad guys, the people who run Meralco ,alongside their big business barons, to run around scot-free.

It’s very easy to fool the people, but not everyone is fooled all the time. People will eventually get tired of the ‘nice guy’ facade and see what’s really happening. Gladhanding never solves anything because it offers bandaids to cure cancer. We need people in government who are sincere in their efforts to solve consumer issues, not someone who pretends to champion our causes, just to cover up his business connections.

HERMAN TIU-LAUREL Publisher

OpinYon is published by Digitek Publishing House, Inc., with editorial and business offices at No. 10 Pacita Avenue, Pacita Complex I, San Pedro, Laguna.

TELEPHONE NUMBER

San Pedro: 214-0766 Email: opinyon.2010@ gmail.com website: www.opinyon.com.ph ISSN 2094-7372

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MARCH 17-23, 2014

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FREDERICK FABIAN Managing Editor DAVE DIWA Opinion Editor CARLOS RAJAMIRA Creative Director

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efore a “hot war” is not a “cold war”, it’s the “information war” or “media war” waged between MSM (Mainstream Media) and Alternative Media. For example, media becomes a key factor in the success or failure of “regime change” efforts of the incorrigible subversive foreign powers pushing their hegemonic drive, using “Orange Revolution”, “People Power”, “right to Protect” media campaigns for “regime change” infl icted on Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Georgia, and many others. In the Philippines, the information war and its consequences shape the direction of the lives of one hundred million Filipinos – for better or (and usually) for worst. At least once a month this column will try to sum up the key information battles transpiring or shaping up. Let’s start with the local media war.

Sergio Osmena and his Poe-ppet

At the end of last week Sen. Sergio Osmeña III surprised the public by publicly describing BS Aquino, his ward in the 2010 presidential elections, as “Noynoying”, a “poor manager” and “matigas ang ulo”. It is well known that he is today carving out another protégé in the form of the “Poe-ppet”. This comes after the “Brenda” of the Senate declares from-out-of the blue that 2016 needs another woman president, a position which she thinks she is too old to hold (how humble, suddenly). There are a dozen reasons why it should be known by all now that a “poeppet” is being groomed to take over the current one tattered by the Meralco price hike, MRT Balsy-Eldon scam, etc. Just like how BS Aquino was groomed to replace the wayward doll Gloria Arroyo earlier.

The pathologically exploitative Filipino Ruling Class and its foreign partners desperately need a new Muppet Show star to delay the revolt of the restive audience going hungrier by the year. The Poe-ppet is perfect and its handlers are trying to imbue it with the attributes of having FPJ’s name but without FPJ’s real heart for the anti-globalization, traditional values such as loyalty and gratitude, genuine humility and compassion for people.

The Poe-ppet is a cold, wooden figure; warmth it cannot exude.

It must be remembered, the Poeppet was proclaimed by PCOSmelec on the basis of 20-million votes in a “fi nal tally” of June 6, 2013 but in the PCOS-melec “fi nal fi nal” posting on July

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PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE Mentong Laurel 11 this became 16-million votes for the “Ta-lo Poe” candidate.

Delfin Lee’s captor sacked!

Nothing captures that picture of pervasive and unchecked corruption the Yellows have set up in the country than the case of Delfi n Lee and his P 7-Billion swindle of the People’s housing funds. This involves BS Aquino’s, and Gloria Arroyo of course because this also involved former Cong. Romero Quimbo and former VP and HUDCC chair Noli de Castro, administrations.

Delfi n Lee, the housing development scammer who eluded authorities for years was arrested last week by Senior Supt. Conrad Capa, but less than a week later Capa was relieved by way of a “promotion” he himself argues to be a demotion; before this BS Aquino sidekick Mar Roxas tried to turn the tables on VP Binay, who is also housing Czar, for reporting that “influential people” tried to have Lee released.

It turned out that Oriental Mindoro Gov. Alfonso Umali, treasurer of the ruling Liberal Party, called up BS Aquino’s police chief Purisima to “inquire” about Lee’s arrest. A controversy also erupted over an earlier erasure of Lee’s name from the PNP list of wanted criminals. There is no reason for a governor of a province far from the housing project of Lee, many of which are in Central Luzon, to be interested in billionaire Lee except for political funding. Clearly, Lee enjoys enormous power and protection from the Liberal Party of BS Aquino and Mar Roxas and their ilk. The media twist in all these is that attempt to turn the issue against Binay, and now expect a massive shift of MSM (Mainstream Media) to another issue to be created.

Cha-cha dancing Zombies

Who’s playing the Cha-cha tunes to which many are dancing to like Zombies? One of those playing the tune is the CorrectPhilippines which is one of the major groups leading from the hidden-behind of the March 15 rally at the Quirino Grandstand, along with groups like PSST (Patalsikin, Sipain, Salot sa Taumbayan), Fix the System Movement, et al whose human faces are not yet seen. But CorrectPhilippines is clear in its advocacy – Opening of the Economy for rape; it highlights Inquirer columns of Peter Wallace, the chief enforcer of the AmCham, ECCP (European) and others for further liberalization and privatization – and chief defender of Meralco’s December-January rate hike! These groups, like the Million Man March PR stunt, are really pervasive in the social media.

Cha-cha is a U.S. sponsored economic-geopolitical project which BS Aquino is obliged to obey. Aquino is playing coy against the bad cap Speaker Belmonte imposing the Cha-cha on Congress. When the right psychological moment comes the good cop will tilt in favor of the Cha-cha. To achieve this the MSM is burying the economic facts that nail the coffi n on economic liberalization: the trillions of pesos of domestic capital available in BSP’s Special Deposit Account, the surplus in Foreign Exchange Reserves, the overflowing capital of banks just allowed to pump it into the real estate bubble. The answer to the economic crises, including unemployment, is restoring the cash flow to the people through nationalization of privatized giant public utilities like Meralco.

GDP: The hypnotic mantra

“PH to top SEAsia GDP 2014 growth at 7.5%” the February MSM headlines but in the same month the next headline followed, “Jobless rate climbs to 27.5 pct in Q4” or almost 13-million Filipinos jobless based on the employment survey of the SWS and in May this year the conservative BS Aquino government statistics admitted that “Philippine unemployment rate rises to 7.5 pct in Jan.”, based on the estimates by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). The PSA figures also showed that underemployment remained high at 19.5 percent, working less than 40 hours a week, and higher than the 36.13 million recorded a year ago. The underemployment rate is double that of the unemployment rate.

••••• Despite the unemployment figures and rising poverty the MSM continues brandishing the GDP growth figures as the magic words to mesmerize and entrance with the message that “everything is going fi ne”, and then push the Cha-cha for more of the same fi nance-capital monopolist “foreign investment” control of the economy that will primarily consists of real estate capture of Philippines land assets using U.S. dollars that will soon be worthless given its crashing status in the global financial system. The same worthless U.S. Dollars will take over Filipino companies making Filipino entrepreneurs mere peons in their own companies. The only measure of real economic growth is the HDI, Human Development Index, and that must be the standard.

••••• More information war summaries next week, on Ukraine, Venezuela, and Philippines burning issues.

(Tune to 1098AM, DWAD, Tues.

To Fri. “Sulo ng Pilipino” program; watch GNN Sat. 8pm and Sun. 8am “Manila: Sunrise in the City”, Destiny Cable ch. 8 or SkyCable ch. 213, or www.gnntvasia.com; log on to www.newkatipunero.blogspot.com)

WE TAKE A STAND

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Opinion

The Viewpoints and outlook of the well-informed

Fred Ruiz Castro

I

am a lawyer, 78 years old, born to Jose J. Roy (+) and Consolacion Ruiz Domingo-Roy (+), and honored by this opportunity to recall and share anecdotes about a great legalist, the late Honorable Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Fred Ruiz Castro. Uncle Fred was a rather distant relative because his mother, Esperanza Ruiz-Castro, had a sister named Julia Ruiz-Domingo, who was my mother’s mother. I was thus related to him within - in the language of the Civil Code - the fi fth civil degree by consanguinity.

However, the “distance” notwithstanding, there were those extraordinary traits of the Castros that easily endeared them to the Roys and, in general, to others in any public setting. They were good-looking, intelligent, charming, witty, articulate, and oh so amiably engaging with beautiful voices. I remember my aunties Anching and Luida, and uncles Fred, Jones, Belong, Angelo and Biens, and I do so with much admiration. Could anyone of them stand out at any social gathering? And how!

One evening, when I was a law school freshman invited to a Castro birthday celebration, I found myself in a huddle with two uncles and three la-

dies whom they were regaling in a discussion about Law. Uncle Angelo, a non-lawyer, was now poised to deliver a coup de grâce to Law. Unaware that his manong, the Hon. Court of Appeals Justice, Fred Ruiz Castro, had stealthily walked up to the group and was now standing directly behind him, Uncle Angelo continued, “...so, Law is no big deal! Unlike the more exact fields like Mathematics, Medicine and Accounting, Law is common sense, right and wrong lang yan, don’t kill, don’t steal and all those prohibitions we all know about. As a matter of... of...” and his voice trailed off as he felt a hand gently pressing down on his shoulder. Then came the familiar deep baritone from behind, and Uncle Angelo’s face suddenly turned ashen.

“Mr. Castro, you have just been caught en flagrante committing an unconscionable culpa aquilliana in the presence of a robed member of a superior court. An apology you must now make, lest you be declared to be in contempt of court.” Whereupon, Uncle Angelo turned around and replied, “I respectfully assert my right to counsel, your Honor.” (Laughter) Of course, they were both in the usual bantering mood.

Spotting me, Uncle Fred then said he was pleased to learn

MUSINGS Ronald Roy that his “Manong Pepe” (my father) had convinced me to take up Law. “I just agreed to please him, Uncle. My heart still embraces Architecture and Civil Engineering”, I replied. It didn’t take long for him to say these meaningful words: “You wont regret it, hijo. The Law defi nes you and the people you must interact with, your rights and duties, society and its institutions.

It defi nes your country and the democracy in which it thrives, and your willingness to nurse it, and defend it, even with your own life. And it opens countless doors for self-fulfi llment.”

Those words are the reason why I have not regretted becoming a lawyer. They are also the reason, I think, I am an activist pro bono columnist of the without-fear-or-favor variety.

After that evening, years passed with virtually no interaction transpiring between us.

Then, some time in 1977-’78,

I bumped into Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred Ruiz Castro at the lobby of the Manila Hotel, after he had addressed an association of judges and practitioners as their Guest Speaker.

His military bearing adding to the stateliness of his magistracy, he did me proud as people watched him move towards me. “Good afternoon, Mr. Chief Justice. That was an excellent speech”, I said as we shook hands. His gaze was more penetrating now, those eyes seemingly sparkling with the wisdom of the ages as he smiled at me, his left hand rested on my shoulder.

“Don’t be stiff with me, Ronnie.

As the Managing Partner of Jose

J. Roy and Associates Law Offices, you must be doing quite well. Congratulations for a wellwritten Appellee’s Brief in that complicated fraud-stained negotiable instruments case involving a multinational company. Your citation of foreign jurisprudence substantially contributed to the logic of your theory of the case. I like your language, the language of jurists. Carry on, Mr. Counselor.”

With that characteristic congenial smile, he winked then hurried off for an appointment with his barber. That was the last time I saw Uncle Fred, wit, humorist, legal icon, chief justice, patriot.

“You wont regret it, hijo. The Law defines you and the people you must interact with, your rights and duties, society and its institutions. It defines your country and the democracy in which it thrives, and your willingness to nurse it, and defend it, even with your own life. And it opens countless doors for self-fulfillment.”

M

alacanang said on Thursday (March 6) that it would not allow the Philippines to be shortchanged in the framework access agreement that it is negotiating with the United States. Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Sonny Coloma said the country has already learned its lesson from the Visiting Forces Agreement, which has been described by critics as lopsided.

“It is only proper that both sides - especially us - address past challenges. We cannot allow that we will be shortchanged,” Coloma said. (Manila Standard Today 3/7/2014) At last, after years of writing and broadcasting our advocacy of helping the country not to take another false move regarding agreement/treaty, we are fi nally vindicated. At least our ‘lingo’ shortchanged is now being used when it comes to our relationship with Uncle Sam. This time around the statement from the Palace pertains to the ongoing negotiation on the access agreement through the Bilateral Strategic Dialogue in Washington.

I have consistently been writing and talking (through my several speaking engagements, TV guesting and in my daily radio program at DWSS1494khz) about learning our lessons from history so that we will not repeat the same mistakes as our past leaders

did. True enough after our long years of ‘cooperation’ with the US, still we have been shortchanged. But for whatever its worth, the present administration must now be commended by standing fi rm on the salient provisions on this new access agreement so that we will not fi nd ourselves on the losing end again.

“But our guidance to our team is this: there will be no repetition of the mistake in the Visiting Forces Agreement. The provisions should always be in accordance with the Constitution, and not violative. And we should also be sensitive to the concerns of our people,” Gazmin added.

I hope and pray, together with our fellow Filipinos, that these words of DND Sec. Voltaire Gazmin will really be the guidance in all our undertakings with Washington as well as with other nations. It is only by this that any leader can show their concern for the coun-

WHISTLE BLOWER Erick San Juan try and for future generations.

Like what I usually remind our readers (and listeners), we are not against the Americans, in fact there are a lot of patriotic Americans who are helping us through their information via email which we appreciate a lot. They are also victims of bad leadership dictated by the super elites who are really screwing poor Americans of their hardearned money. Now, they are also suffering from job loss, less health care benefits and even their homes are taken from them by wrong government policies.

Veteran news analyst-editor and nationalist Ka Maning Almario emailed me the other day, reminding me of his essay way back in 1977. It was about what is good and bad about the U.S., which The Focus - a leading national magazine under martial law featured.

He said that the US revolution is a landmark in the human struggle for democracy. But from nationalism, it turned into imperialism. Among it’s earliest victims was the Philippines. In the 20th century up to the present, it bullied militarily and economically weaker countries like RP for control of our resources and markets. He added that today, millions of innocent folks have been casualties of US weapons of mass destruction, as the US continue to intervene in other countries affairs in pursuit of its imperial interests. We must reject and with our puny strength, fight US imperialism while recognizing and welcoming original

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American principles of justice and the right to self determination.

We are facing very exciting times of possible global war, and we are witnessing the escalation of movements to outdone the military might of every country that poses threat to their supremacy. And in the midst of all of these, as a small country, but with very strategic advantage in location in this region, we have to play our cards well. It would be very crucial that PNoy should have people in his loop who will have expertise in geostrategy, to guide him in making moves so as not to put the nation in the crosshairs, especially with China.

Now, with the forthcoming visit of President Barack Obama, there is no stopping their plan of reestablishing their former bases here as their ‘temporary’ place for more American troops, aircraft and ships. What our negotiating panel’s crucial role now is to assure the whole Filipino nation that we will get what is due us in this agreement, and maybe add more incentives like visa-free access in entering the American soil. Let us not forget our veterans, who are still not well compensated for their important role in the last world war.

Hopefully, it would be possible to get unconditional support and retaliatory response approved by the U.S. Congress in case of aggression from China.

Let us remain vigilant and support this administration for the common good. God bless the Filipino people!

OpinYon

PHOTO SOURCE: wikipedia

Patriotic Shift

MARCH 17-23, 2014

5 3/14/14 9:43 PM

Environment PHOTO SOURCE: www.goldstardailynews.com.ph

Legarda Calls for Enforcement of LGUs’ Land Use Plans

The effects of mining on Iponan River in Cagayan de Oro.

A Global Mining Ethics Code: Why It Matters

By Erick A. Fabian

There is no international law governing mining projects, according to environmental ethics expert Shefa Siegel. The Philippine Society of Mining Engineers (PSEM) has a Code of Ethics, but a quick look at their website copy of the code reveals that it needs improvement in the environmental aspect. At the moment, there are only individual ethical codes and behavioral standards, but these are mostly voluntary and no government strictly enforces them. Included in this long list of ethical codes are the International Cyanide Management Code, the Equator Principles, the Global Reporting Initiative, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the Natural Resource Charter, and the United Nations’ “Ruggie Principles”. These are seen more as guidelines rather than authoritative.

On a recent visit to Japan, geologist and researcher Dr. Victor Maglambayan found out that there is a growing demand for “ethical jewelry.” He noticed that discussions about fair trade and related ethics in the jewelry business have been gaining ground in other countries. “In one of my early visits to Japan, I realized that the green trend has already taken hold even for gold, especially for gold produced by small-scale miners,” says Maglambayan in an interview with mainstream broadsheet Philippine Daily Inquirer some years back. The respected geologist also works as division manager for exploration at Philex Mining Exploration.

“The traditionally wealthier countries in the world have shown concern for problems associated with small-scale mining by preferring jewelry that is untainted by issues normally associated with small-scale miners like child labor, use of toxic substances and other environmentally hazardous practices,” he remarked.

According to Maglambayan, this trend is not much different from the phenomenon of ‘blood diamonds’ in some African

countries in the past. ‘Blood diamonds’ are those mined using slave labor, often done using kidnappings and other illegal methods. He mentions examples of jewelry companies that are exemplary when it comes to ethical business practices, such as Cartier and Fifi Bijoux in France, and Hasuna jewelry in Japan.

A sane mining code of ethics, Siegel believes, is one that would limit prolonged extraction once it reaches an unsustainable level in an area, instead of expanding as if the resource is unlimited.

The enforcement of mining ethics will require interfering with existing mining policies. Such interference, says Siegel, was unheard of in the past decades but is very much necessary in the time of climate change and ecologically-sustainable business practices. Failure of enforcing an international mining ethics code will result to the stubborn persistence of extraction practices, which will prove to be fatal to communities around the world, not to mention the environment.

The country of Mongolia has the Sustainable Artisanal Mining (SAM) project, done in partnership with the Swiss government. It has produced a mercuryfree gold processing plant in Bornuur province after its small-scale miners formed a cooperative. The advocacy for ethically-produced mining products is now being jump-started in Latin American countries as well. In Colombia, there is an organization of small-scale miners called Asociacion por la Mineria Responsable (ARM). ARM advocates for a ‘standard zero’,a process to certify gold, silver and platinum that conforms with the following ethical requirements: Gold and gemstones should be from socially and environmentally responsible mines.

These should be fairly traded, ensuring that miners get a fair price for the goods, and the employees are paid more than the local minimum wage.

ARM emphasizes that no child and forced labor or exploitative practices will

be used in the mining, refining or trading of gold and gemstones. Another remarkable thing about this movement is that the gold mines follow an eco-sustainability program, meaning no chemicals were used (for example, cyanide, mercury or arsenic).

As a way to make up for the extraction, ARM members make sure that the topsoil dug off during mining is replaced.

It is uncertain if mining companies in the country are catching on the trend to promote “green jewelry” and fairly traded mineral. Research efforts in finding ways to produce and promote “ethical gold” to benefit small-scale miners are apparently not in place. The Philippines is still in the “fact-finding” stage, while foreign researchers are now in the “problem-solving” stage. Maglambayan mentions research work by Dr. Peter Appel of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, who documented the extent of mercury use in the small-scale mine sites in Zamboanga del Norte and Camarines Norte.

“Aside from helping clean up the process of small-scale miners, this may have economic benefits. Consider how much gold can be recovered from the mercury that can be recovered from the tailings. If it becomes successful, maybe large mining companies may show more interest in small-scale miners’ activities finally,”said Maglambayan. He believes that international agencies with interest in social development should see artisanal, or smallscale mining, as a way to help rural folk rise from poverty.

In the Philippines, the Environmental Management Bureau has estimated 300,000 small-scale miners in 2011. In Benguet alone, at least around 16,000 people work in small-scale mining industries.

Maglambayan says small-scale mining “should be engaged constructively as the problems in this sector impact largely on mining companies.” “Small-scale mining is a reality in the Philippines because it is driven by poverty and the lack of opportunities,” he says.

Senator Loren Legarda called on concerned government agencies to ensure that the comprehensive land use plans (CLUPs) of local government units (LGUs) are being enforced.

Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, issued the statement during the committee hearing for the proposed National Land Use Act (NaLUA) and the Final Forest Limits Act. She said, it is not enough that 1,500 LGUs have their respective CLUPs. “We have to make sure that these approved CLUPs are carried out effectively, which means that hazard-prone areas, forestlands, and protected areas remain uninhabited and are preserved as no building zones.”

The Senator added that national government agencies, particularly the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), must ensure that CLUPs are faithfully implemented.

Legarda also highlighted the need to approve the proposed National Land Use Act because the government is currently using an antiquated land classification method formed in the 1920s.

“We have been experiencing stronger storms, earthquakes and other natural hazards. A national land use measure is crucial in the government’s current disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation efforts,” she stressed.

“Furthermore, LGUs play a critical role in the crafting of risk-sensitive and participatory land use planning and management. LGUs are considered to be the first line of defense against disasters so there is an urgent need for them to be capacitated, enabling them to prepare, update and implement their respective CLUPs based on policy guidelines to be set under the proposed NaLUA,” she added.

Meanwhile, Legarda also said that through the Final Forest Limits Act, “we aim to conserve, protect, and develop our forest resources to attain ecological balance and promote sustainable development.”

“With demarcated and properly identified forestlands, the national government can better plan the utilization of the natural resources of the country, and LGUs would be better equipped to initiate and implement development projects and programs with due regard to the preservation and protection of the integrity of the demarcated forest lands,” Legarda concluded.

Japan Commits PHP215 Million ODA Providing ‘Next-Generation Vehicle Package’ Japanese Ambassador Toshinao Urabe and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert F. Del Rosario exchanged notes for the “Non-Project Grant Aid (Next-Generation Vehicle Package)” amounting to 500 million yen (approximately 215 million pesos) on March12, 2014.

The “Non-Project Grant Aid (NextGeneration Vehicle Package)” aims to contribute to the reduction of environmental pollution in the Philippines caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The products to be provided under

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OpinYon

this project will be decided in accordance with the Philippine Government’s requests. Specifically, the project is intended to provide eco-friendly products that will promote the development of the Philippines through making use of Japanese technology such as hybrid vehicle (HV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), electric vehicle (EV) and clean diesel vehicle (CD).

Projects under the Non-Project Grant Aid (NPGA) seek to assist developing countries in responding to different eco-

nomic and social needs. The NPGA offers foreign currency funding for importation of goods such as industrial materials that will address a specific concern of a developing country. The objectives of these projects are in line with the concept of “Inclusive Growth” stated in the Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016, as well as the concept of “Human Security” being advocated by the Japanese Government. Projects such as this serve as a continuing testimony of strategic partnership between Japan and the Philippines.

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Agriculture Japan assists farmers and fishers affected by Typhoon Yolanda The Government of Japan approved the funding for the “AKBay – Agrikultura: Kaagapay ng Bayang Pinoy (Agriculture: A Partner in Philippine Progress) Program Phase II” for Typhoon Yolanda-Affected Areas under the Japan Food Security Project for Underprivileged Farmers, (formerly known as the 2KR Program).

A fund support of One Hundred Thirty Nine Million Nine Hundred Seventy Nine Thousand Five Hundred Pesos (P139,979,500.00) from Japan’s Official Development Assistance was approved for this project.

The project aims to contribute to the

Philippine Government’s recovery and rehabilitation efforts being provided to families in the agriculture and fishing communities in Typhoon Yolanda affected areas in Region VIII by providing income-generating opportunities and helping the displaced farmers and fishers re-establish their livelihood in relocation areas. The project will be implemented by the National Agricultural and Fishery Council (NAFC) of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

The project will be implemented for one year targeting around 8,500 farmer and fisher families. The project will cover the first five (5) severely damaged munici-

palities in four badly-hit provinces in Region VIII, namely: Leyte, Eastern Samar, Biliran and Western Samar. Project components include grant assistance of farming plant materials or fishing boats and paraphernalia worth P15,000 per farmer/ fisher household with no repayment.

Super Typhoon Yolanda hit the Visayas Regions and the Palawan province on November 8, 2013, causing damages amounting to P39.82 Billion, with P19.56 Billion for infrastructures and P20.26 Billion for agriculture. While the immediate needs of the affected families were provided, there is a need for continu-

ing help through livelihood opportunities that would provide sustainable means to assist the victims towards recovery.

For the past thirty years, the 2KR Program has made a positive impact on the livelihood of Filipino farmers. This project reaffirms Japan’s commitment, as the top donor of the Official Development Assistance to the Philippines, to support the efforts of the Government of the Philippines to alleviate poverty and achieve food self-sufficiency. The project also serves as a continuing testimony of strategic partnership between Japan and the Philippines towards the future.

Smuggling as a Supply Game

By VL Domingo (Conclusion)

BEFORE transplanting the farmer must have to buy at least 10 bags of mix-grade fertilizers for basal application to have a good crop. Because he has very little capital which he also borrowed from the usurer he buys only 1/3 of the plant requirement.

Furthermore, the price of fertilizer as an input initially went up by 136% (and continue to increase), since only a few Chinese traders are importing it, thus again limiting the supply of fertilizers which provides the plant energy for productivity.

This is specially so when planting during the dry season. During the rainy season, somehow the farmers get free nitrogen from the air every time there is a thunderstorm that initiates nitrification.

Meanwhile, his soil has gotten acidic after more than 50 years of chemical farming since it was first introduce in the l960’s by ESSO (Standard Oil).

Not a few government employees lost their lives and jobs in the fertilizer subsidy scam for lack of supply. A Regional Director in Lasam and a DA employee who knew too much about the scam where murdered.

The DA employee was murder with his wife, and his only daughter who just graduated from college and a niece working with him as his assistant in their house in Bulacan in the middle of the night wiping out the whole family.

Harvesting Headaches

When palay is harvested haphazardly, you again lose 15-20% of what you should harvest from your backbreaking efforts in farming. This is after the farmers spend a lot of money on chemicals to protect their fields from pest and diseases.

Again they need to contract at least 20 harvesters. The practice then is they get 10% of your harvest. This is after shaking off easily 5% of the rice panicles to the ground and step on them. They could save this if they could only hire harvesting machines. But there is none.

Worse, even the harvesters like the transplanters are gone. In the barangays, there are two kinds of farm workers.

There are those who want to harvest only the others want to transplant only.

The practice of harvest sharing is gone; hence you could no longer be assured of harvesters on time. You have to wait for harvesters from the other barangay that may still have some harvesters. Meanwhile, the field rats are slowly harvesting your palay if you did not put a rat trap before harvest. There is then a need to rent a combine harvester.

But for the moment only a few towns have it because it is very expensive. It is too costly for an investor. Only a federation or a cooperative could afford to buy it and rent it out to its members if they could raise the funds which is usually not available from banks and the government is not also investing on it.

Availability of Warehouses

Again the supply chain of the grains industry is broken by the lack of investments in warehouses. Only traders are investing and making windfall profits at the expense of the farmer-producers. This is where the trader starts making his profits. This is where the cartels come in.

Only a few own rice warehouses in Metro Manila and they connive to dictate the price in the market.

Recently, they even hired persons and provided them money to queue for rice just to dramatize that there is no rice supply anymore from the NFA warehouses.

The NFA then had to release their buffer stocks which some unscrupulous NFA employees usually keep and allow it to rot and sell to traders for a clean profit and recorded as losses in the books of the agency.

Farmer cooperatives have been given funds to build their own warehouses, but their trading funds were mismanaged leaving them bankrupt. So in effect there is no supply of warehouse space even as they stood in the middle of the fields like “white elephants” in the middle of brown and barren rice land for lack of irrigation.

This happens because of subsistence farming as the norm that now needs to be transformed into commercial farming with highly professionalized farmers federation to do the business of planting and

trading palay and rice to supply the needs of the country and be truly self sufficient (not by statistical manipulations) .

Supply of Post-Harvest Facilities

Easily, 5-10% is lost in rice milling using dilapidated rice mills that are very inefficient. Part of the rice supply to the consumers is being given to feed mills for livestock instead of human consumption.

Drying in the highways shows the Jurassic way of drying palay which leads again to additional losses that could easily compensate for the 10% shortage that is reported every year.

Drying and Milling are not integrated because of the absence of investors which the government could easily invest on through farmer federations but is not being done. If the government shifts its policy to invest instead of subsidizing it will be easier for them to monitor the funds instead of using government money in anomalous subsidies and programs.

The millions of funds allocated by DA Regional offices for training monitoring, evaluation and support services can be realigned with the Government Social Investment Funds (GSIF) to finance the construction of post harvest facilities, provide trading funds for the importation of inputs and buying palay from their members with incentives and selling to the government those that they could not sell for Quedan, stockpiling and buffer

stocking.

GSIF is what is needed in completing the infrastructure in commercial rice production instead of just the farm to market road which others call as “road to my farm” among Congressmen and Senators.

Politics of Rice

The absence of rice supply in the market will topple down a President or he will lose his bid for re-election. This is the politics of rice. Thus a seating President (with or without him knowing it actually puts a tacit approval to his/her henchmen to DALPO (Do All Possible) and allow even smugglers to bring in rice just to make sure that there is no shortage.

Most often also this will be tolerated by his henchmen to keep them in power and in their high positions in government.

Thus, the previous President tolerated this sad reality through their Secretaries of Agriculture. The standing order then was to produce or tolerates smuggled rice (to insure supply in the hands of the retailers). Along the way, sometimes things go wrong in this “modus operandi”.

One popular businessman lost his life when he told the President about a smuggled rice and the President without knowing the implication since it is a complex reality in food security, had the goods confiscated. The businessman was then shot (as a double crosser) in his house Turn to page 11

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OpinYon

MARCH 17-23, 2014

9 3/14/14 9:43 PM

OPINION The Emperor From page 12

use ‘LoyalTea’ cards to attract more customers. Richard believes in excellent customer service. To show his dedication in satisfying customer demand, he printed his personal cellular phone number on all packaging materials. If that isn’t engaging with your market on a very personal, down-to-earth manner, we don’t know what is.

Tea Square has grown to twenty branches nationwide. “I was able to recover my initial investment in only six months and repay my loans within a year,”Sanz proudly says.

In 2006, not wanting to rest on his laurels, Sanz sought to venture into the bibingka business. His idea is so simple and yet quite effective. “My family likes eating bibingka, but sometimes, we can’t fi nish a whole serving. So I thought of making smaller portions.” He called it as Bibingkinitan!, a combination of ‘bibingka’ with ‘balingkinitan’, which means small or petite in Filipino.

At Php20 per piece, Bibingkinitan! rice-flour cakes are accessible to the mass-based broad C market. It has classic and flavored variants of the classic bibingka recipe, including chocolate, cream cheese, and macapuno. The mini-bibingkas sold like hotcakes. According to Richard, “Bibingkinitan! is the country’s leading bibingka chain today in terms of revenue and store number. It’s also our bestselling brand. We now have over 60 Bibingkinitan! branches.”

One would think that another business success would leave an entrepreneur to settle down, but not Richard, who seems to be quite a natural in handling a business venture. One year after Bibingkinitan!’s launch, he opened another upscale outlet called Bibingka Cafe at the Alabang Town Center in December 2007. Its menu consists of bibingka ala mode, champorado, salabat, tsokolate, and barako coffee, all classic Filipino comfort food and beverages, offered at very affordable prices. Not to be stopped, he opens three more branches in 2008 at SM North EDSA, SM Clark, and SM Mall of Asia.

To further grow his flourishing business empire, Richard created another business division. Calling it Fresh-Foods, its fi rst product offerings are ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook frozen foods, like Stuffees stuffed bread and tilapia ala pobre, as well as fresh poultry produce, like fresh white eggs, red duck eggs, and fresh chicken.

SM Supermarket was impressed with the company’s products and marketing efforts, and offered the opportunity for Richard to develop a brand of consumer food products for the broad C market.

These products are now being distributed in major SM supermarkets and hypermarkets nationwide.

Richard notes that FreshFoods’s competition is much more formidable than those of their retail brands, but he remains confident about it. “We are confident that through focused development and brand-building, we can get a respectable market share in three to five years.”

FoodAsia presently has a workforce of almost 100 employees and occupies a 100 square meter office in Muntinlupa City. Both Tea Square and Bibingkinitan! have begun franchising, with its combined 20 franchised outlets comprising roughly 25 percent of the current total stores. “We want to establish a presence in all towns in the Philippines,” Sanz says.

In today’s globally-oriented world, an entrepreneur should be able to think in more global perspective. “Innovation is part of our strategy. The product itself is an innovation because we changed the landscape for bibingka. I want to make Bibingkinitan a global brand.

All the other food from other countries like Italy, Japan, Vietnam and Thailand are available locally but we have to establish distribution of Filipino food abroad. My dream is to make this Philippine delicacy known globally through Bibingkinitan. We have inquiries in Jakarta, Singapore and Hong Kong today. Hopefully it’s a first step,” the founder of the country’s first bibingka empire says.

Smuggling...

From page 9

probably even in front of his wife by telling on the smugglers.

The “Hunger Game” which starts with government lies that there is sufficient supply, has now graduated into a “Supply Game” which the government has failed to address by subsidizing creating anomalous transactions has now graduated into a “Killing Game”.

Paradigm Shift

Like history, these anomalies in the P300 billion grains industry will keep on repeating itself from administration to administration until Kingdom Come unless there is a paradigm shift in dealing with this killing issue.

The fi rst is to listen to what the farmers say (through their credible leaders want) as a solution to this recurring problem of rice supply which starts from lack of palay supply, which starts from lack of seeds, which starts from lack of water, which starts from lack of inputs, which starts from lack of farm credit, which continuous because of inefficient transplanting, harvesting, milling and warehousing thus making their unit cost higher than the world price which now results to unbridled smuggling of rice in all ports of the country.

The second is for the government to invest (not subsidize) in the commercial ventures of farmer federations and similar associations to now operate their own agribusiness.

The third is to allow the price of palay and rice to seek their own levels. When the farmers earn more because of free enterprise (not government control) but with government investments the farmers will produce more and better quality palay because they will now have regular incomes from the commercial venture in which they participated. They can then buy more manufacture goods and invigorate the manufacturing industry to be able to pay higher wages and can now afford to buy a more expensive rice directly sold to them by the farmers through cluster farming.

This will then enable the farmers to produce rice at lower unit cost, provide the supply needed by the traders and generate the local and national economy. With more incomes from palay farming then they don’t have to sell their seeds, keep some stocks for their use and will not become a consumer of rice themselves as claimed by many technocrats who are not even “walking the fields” just to justify their claim of certifying importation.

Databases for Development

I

HAVE built many databases for the government either as a manager or director. Sad to say, most of these databases have not been sustained for one reason or another. More often than not, the main reason for the inability to sustain government databases is the lack of budgets and manpower.

This was true during the days when databases were still very expensive to maintain, and only highly skilled technical workers could operate them. Gone are those days however, because nowadays, databases no longer cost a lot to maintain, and even ordinary users could operate these systems.

In this column, I will talk about building databases for development in general and not for government in particular.

This perspective comes from the thinking that governance actually involves not only the government, but also the private sector. In this context, the databases could be owned and operated either by the government sector or by the private sector, depending on which sector would be in the best position to sustain the projects.

The government is not lacking in the legal basis to own and operate databases. As a matter of fact, the government agencies have the legal basis to do so, as shown in their mandates and charters. For the most part, it could be said that most government agencies would have data assets collected in the form of paper fi les or computer fi les, except that these are not encoded into operable and functional databases. The challenge therefore is to build automated databases that could integrate all of these scattered databases.

While most of us are already familiar with internet websites and mobile apps, many of us forget the fact that these websites and apps are actually depending on the databases at the backend in order to be able to serve information. As it is technically defi ned, information is processed data, meaning to say that it is the fi nished product that is derived from the raw data at the backend.

That is how important databases are, even if websites and apps are the ones that are getting our attention, being in the forefront.

Under the Local Government

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SCIENCE WORKS Ike Señeres Code (LGC), Local Development Councils (LDCs) are supposed to be convened at all levels of local governance, from the barangay level all the way up to the regional level. At the barangay level, the Barangay Development Councils (BDCs) are supposed to report directly to the Barangay Assemblies, being the highest authorities in the barangays that are in effect the equivalent of the Stockholder’s Meetings in the private corporations. As stated in the law, seats are supposed to be reserved for private sector representatives to sit in the BDCs. Also under that same law, the Barangay Councils are supposed to produce their own Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUPs) for submission to the municipal Mayors and the Municipal Development Councils (MDCs). As I understand it, the municipal Mayors are supposed to integrate the barangay CLUPs into the municipal CLUP, with the participation and support of the MDCs. This process goes up the ladder, because in turn, the municipal CLUPs are supposed to be submitted to the provincial Governors and the Provincial Development Councils (PDCs) and further up the ladder, provincial CLUPs are also supposed to be produced for submission to the Regional Development Councils (RDCs).

I would imagine that in each step of the ladder, copies of the CLUPs should also be submitted to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), being the lead agency in the implementation of the LGC. For all intents and purposes, the DILG should own and operate the databases containing the CLUPs from all levels.

On the demand side however, I would also imagine that the contents of these databases would also be needed by other government agencies such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)

and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB).

On the technical side, the CLUP databases could be built using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning Systems (GPS), images, videos and animations, in effect giving these the necessary multimedia features. Since these technologies are already widely available, all that is needed now is the political will to do it, meaning to say that the BDCs, MDCs, PDCs and RDCs have to put their hearts and minds into it, led by their government sector and private sector members.

Nowadays, internet sites such as Google already have the online services that these councils could use, such as Google Maps and Google Street View. The national government led by the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) has also put up an online geographic portal that these councils could use. Storage space is also not a problem nowadays, since cloud computing is already available, along with data centers that could be cheaply rented.

Even without computers, these councils could actually make three dimensional topographic maps and scale models using only scrap paper and ordinary paste. All told, there is no more excuse not to produce the CLUPs. As provided for in the law, local residents could actually sue their local officials in the Office of the Ombudsman for their failure to produce the CLUPs or for their failure to convene the Barangay Assemblies or the LGCs. Rather than do that however, they should just join hands with their local officials in order to produce the CLUPs. Other than the DENR and the HLURB, the information contained in the CLUP databases could also be used by the local offices of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and the Climate Change Commission (CCC). It could actually be argued that not unless the Environmental Clearance Certificates (ECCs) that are issued by the DENR are based on the CLUPs, these would have no basis, and could be prone to corruption. Same is true in the case of the building permits that are issued by the LGUs. These should be based on CLUPs.

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JANUARY 6-12, 2014 • VOL.4 NO.19

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SECTIONS POLITICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 AGRICULTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 FOREIGN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P1 LIFESTYLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P4

RICHARD SANZ

e Emperor of Iced Tea & Bibingka

Y

oung entrepreneur Richard Sanz started out with nothing but a business concept and his gut feel. Going by personal instinct and intuition has been considered too risky by many business people. In Richard’s case, it has proven him right in the long run, because he now rules one of the most successful food businesses in the country.

He started his venture in 2004. “I was 23 years old when I resigned from my engineering job in a multinational fi rm. It was a risky decision as I had a family to provide for, but I went ahead because I was young and excited to have my own business.” He remembers his mother making iced tea from tea leaves and water. With that dearly-held childhood memory, Sanz collected Php120,000 worth of capital from personal loans and created Tea Square, the Philippines’ fi rst specialty iced tea brand. The fi rst Tea Square branch was opened at the Alabang Town Center in Muntinlupa City.

“We are confident that through focused development and brand-building, we can get a respectable market share in three to five years,” he shares. Despite the fact that most food businesses rely on the tried-and-tested iced tea prepared from powder, Richard Sanz has successfully popularized a line of all-natural tea beverages. Food Asia Corporation, his company, currently has four brands and 80 retail outlets nationwide, and has experienced revenue growth of over 1,000 percent during the past years.

“My target was the upscale, health-conscious AB market.

Since I had a low budget, I developed my own products based on what I felt the market would enjoy. I also designed the cart, and learned how to use Adobe Photoshop to create my company’s logo and marketing materials. The entire setup took two weeks,” Richard narrates.

“Since I only had one employee, I did all the marketing, accounting, and other tasks myself. But it made me so proud to see people frequenting the store–between 50 to 100 customers came each day, probably out of curiosity. The good thing, though, is we were able to translate that curiosity into continuous sales.”

One way to ensure business success is to to educate the public about one’s products. Richard did taste tests and set up inmall posters informing the consumer of tea’s health benefits, such as boosting one’s immune system, preventing cancer, and reducing high blood pressure. He also had the creative idea to Turn to page 11

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